You’ve just written some Web content for a client. In the process, you learned more about topic X than you ever wanted to know. Why not write up what you’ve learned into a nonfiction ebook?

When I asked Matt (a student) about his current writing, he said he was blogging for a client who sells health products. I knew he’d researched the products, the marketplace, and the audience, and asked whether he could turn his research into an ebook. We brainstormed angles, and within a few minutes, he had ideas for a couple of ebooks which he could not only sell, but which he could write in a few hours.

If you are sitting down and you feel that you want to write and nothing is coming, you get up and do something else. Then you come back again and try it again. But you do it in a relaxed manner. Trust that it will be there. If it ever was once and you’ve ever done it once, it will be back. It always comes back and the only thing that is a problem is when you get in your own way worrying about it.

“Writing fits in everywhere in my day. If I’m not on the computer or jotting in my notebook then it’s happening in my head or through my senses. Everything I do and see and smell and hear and touch and feel is a potential story or scene or shot.”

You’re a Writer. You Can Write Anything.

Start with this mindset: you’re a writer. You can write about anything, because you can communicate. Few people communicate well, so be proud of yourself.

Freelance writers come in two basic groups: specialists, and generalists. I’ve always been pretty much a generalist. However, specialization happened, when I started to write consistently about several subjects, like technology, productivity, and business. Most freelancers end up specializing in this way. They write several articles about something or other, then they’re asked to write more. Before they know it, they’re a specialist in an area – they’ve become an “expert.”

That CTA is an ad. The information it shared was the book’s cover and title, and “Subscribe for Updates.” Any writer could create that, and it proves that you don’t need to become a copywriting pro — just share information.

In the training, we’re marketing a non-existent book, Mindful Business: Make More Sales, and Become More Confident, With Mindfulness Meditation. Marketing isn’t complicated. By the end of the training, you’ll know exactly how to market your book(s).

You need to do some prep before you start, that is, create some marketing collateral – basic materials:

Once you have lots of marketing “creative”: collateral such as book covers, advertising images, CTAs (calls to action, a form of advertising), taglines, blurbs, and topic areas, you’ll find that marketing is huge fun.
Think of marketing as an expedition. Without the proper clothing, supplies and preparation, chance are you’d HATE your trip. If you were going on a wilderness expedition, you might not even survive. You will survive marketing… indeed, you’ll come to enjoy it.

Here’s why trusting yourself is important: to write nonfiction, you need to have an angle — a slant, or a point of view, if you will. New writers haven’t developed trust in themselves, so they want to conform. This is death to your nonfiction — forget conforming. You don’t want to write an endless series of “me too” books. Your ideas, opinions, skills — everything that makes you who you are — are valuable. Use what you are.

If you have a point of view in total opposition to what everyone believes about a topic you may write a very popular book. Don’t go out of your way to be contrary or controversial. But if you have an opposite point of view to perceived wisdom on a topic: you believe what “everyone” thinks is wrong-headed, go with it.

In 2014, I wouldn’t consider works you license (ebooks and similar) truly optional. If you want a secure income, they’re essential.

Yes, it’s a challenge to find time to create ebooks. However, most writers leave money on the table, both when they write fiction, and when they write nonfiction. I discussed Draft2Digital adding Scribd to their distribution. You need to distribute as widely as possible. However, considering your formats is essential too.

But this week, Schultz discovered a silver lining: royalties! As she writes in her new Tumblr, “Spending The Stephen King Money,” the delayed benefits from those sales are piling in:

“Apparently there were a lot of confused readers as this week I got a—for me—big royalty check for those mistaken books. I’m not so upset anymore. Sure, it’s more a pleasant surprise than a fortune, and I’m stuck with those reviews, but I thought a blog detailing how we’re spending the Stephen King money would be a nice way to end this funny and strange story.”

Why create images? Because you need them for social media, and advertising. Yes, you can hire a designer to create some wonderful images, and you should, if you can afford it. However, most marketing these days is done on the fly. You’re not going to hire a designer to create graphics for every blog post you write, or for every social media update.

Let’s look at some easy image creation tools for non-designers… they’re all FREE.

As the scientists report in a new study in the journal NeuroImage, the brains of expert writers appeared to work differently, even before they set pen to paper. During brainstorming, the novice writers activated their visual centers. By contrast, the brains of expert writers showed more activity in regions involved in speech.

“I think both groups are using different strategies,” Dr. Lotze said. It’s possible that the novices are watching their stories like a film inside their heads, while the writers are narrating it with an inner voice.

Research Aid – OneLook (Reverse Dictionary)

While writing your story, there will be times when you have to stop and ask: “What’s the word that means (insert definition here)?” Obviously, a normal dictionary won’t be helpful here, because dictionaries are designed to help you look up unknown definitions of known words, not the other way around.

In this case, you need OneLook’s reverse dictionary, which helps you search for words that best describe or sum up the definition or description you have in mind. For example, if you type “urge to travel” in the search bar, the system will return “wanderlust” and all other related words.

I fell in love with computers the first time I read the WordStar manual cover to cover. For some 15 years, writing about computers and software added nicely to my income. Yes, we’ve been talking about writing fiction on the blog, but don’t forget about nonfiction – you can write for the Web as well as writing fiction. Not only do websites and publications pay for nonfiction, but you can also sell nonfiction ebooks.

As I point out in our new program on writing nonfiction, Nonfiction Ebook Superstar: Write and Sell In 24 Hours Or Less, you can write a nonfiction ebook in an afternoon, and sell it for the next ten years. Updating nonfiction is easy. I created the Nonfiction Superstar program because so many writers contacted me and enquired, plaintively, about writing nonfiction.